By Saio Marrah
The leader of the Coalition for Change (C4C) in parliament, Emerson Saa Lamina, has called on the government to invest and develop various tourism centres in Kono District to boost the country’s economy.
The MP, while debating the government’s 2022 annual budget at the house of parliament on Friday 26th November 2021 applauded the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs’ intervention in identifying certain localities in the country.
“I commended the budget’s plan to promote tourism and the unearthing of Kono’s touristic potentials. With Kono District so blessed with touristic flavors when appreciably executed, will showcase Kono District, its people, and its culture and traditions,” he said.
The MP also identified touristic centres in the Kono District which the ministry can invest in “I see the budgetary proposal as an opportunity to showcase places like the Sangagbewa rocky mountain with a lake on top around the Lei, Sandor and Upper Gbense axis, the miraculous meeting point of the Bafin (black river) and Bagbe (white river) in the Sandor Chiefdom,” He added.
He added that harvesting ecotourism in the Tarma forest of Sandor, the late Capt. Lendy’s and the mass grave of the Sofa Warriors at Waima in Fiama, the British collection of the Woryii diamond and the unique Kono Cultural Tradition of the land called Kono, the people called Kono, the language-Kono, and the unique naming pattern of Kono people in Sierra Leone and perhaps in West Africa are all part of the beauty and uniqueness of the land.
He also pointed out that Kono District cannot only generate revenue from the mining sector but also has a huge potential in the revenue mobilization in the tourism sector if only they can be utilized.
From the 2022 budget, Le23.4 billion was allocated to the tourism sector, of which, Le9.3 billion is for staff salaries.
9.5 billion Leones from the recurrent budget was allocated as support to the National Tourist Board, Monuments and Relics Commission, and National and Railway Museums.
According to the budget, the National Tourist Board will receive 5.2 billion from the domestic capital budget including Le1.2 billion for the construction of 5 Tourist Information Centres and Le4.0 billion as counterpart contribution to donor-funded projects coordinated by the National Tourist Board.
According to the Finance Minister, Dr. Dennis K Vandi, development partners including UNDP, World Bank, and the USA are also expected to disburse Le49.2 billion for the implementation of Sustainable Tourism.
According to Africa Tourism Monitor, compiled by the African Development Bank, Africa as a whole occupies only a small slice of the international tourism market, accounting for 62.9m, about 5.1 percent of the 1.2 billion global tourist arrivals in 2016.
The African Business’s 2019 report on Reviving Tourism in West Africa, stated that tourism receipts are higher in eastern and southern Africa 4.5 percent and 3 percent respectively than in West Africa 2.1 percent.
It added that challenges such as inadequate funding and investment; poor infrastructure and insecurity have conspired to erode tourism receipts in Nigeria and West Africa as a whole.
Copyright © Politico Online 03/12/21
